Does Dissent Weaken or Strengthen Us?

I saw Kos reporting from the convention the other day and he was blasting certain Democrats that didn't hold together, saying that by their voting with Bush they are strengthening the president and weakening our side of the argument.

On the one hand, I agree with him and I so despise Bush and mistrust any and everything that he stands for that I am afraid of anything that he tries to accomplish. On the other, one of the things I don't like about politics in this country is the partisanship, that people make votes based not on their convictions, but on back-room deals or because they are herded into line by their party superiors. That's one thing that I have liked about the Democrats, is that we have much more diversity of thought than the Republicans, who have been working hard to marginalize anyone who is not onboard with the Fundy, imperialist goals of the current administration.

So what do you think, does dissent from the party platform weaken the party or does it help us in the long run by making us more flexible?

It can not function properly without it. Case in point is the current regime and how poorly things are going in this country.

It depends on the type and intent of the dissent. I object strongly to the perpetual concern for the middle class when the poor have been imprisoned and impoverished without a voice for decades now. Pointing out things we've missed or problems we can work on that are missed I see as a good thing, it makes sure we don't leave people behind.

On the other hand we have rumors that Lieberman may run as an independent or something of the sort which just splits the Dem vote and offers the repubs an easier seat.

Is it constructive, or just us insisting on getting our own way? There's room for dissent if it's not destructive.

so is cooperation and compromise.

Tom DeFuckingWorstLayInTheWorld made sure to mock those very essential elements of our representative democracry in his unfortunate, and quite welcome, parting speech on the House floor, so you know they're important.

First, though, the Democrats have to have a solid platform on which to stand, where compromise and cooperation can take place, and where Democrats can then make their deals and present a solid and unified front.

That's where the power begins.

The major threat to all of us is party loyalty.

Dissent is healthy. It's essential. It opens the minds to consider more than just one point of view. Progress is made when there is dissent and healthy discussion.

Unfortunately we don't see enough dissent anymore. Thanks to the tactics of Rove, Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Mehlman, Bush, and those like them, there's very little healthy dissent to be found anywhere. There's division and hatred. And that gets us nowhere.

A very wise man once said: "To restore... harmony,... to render us again one people acting as one nation should be the object of every man really a patriot." That man was Thomas Jefferson.

Dissent ultimately unites. Spewing one-sided hatred to the masses tears a nation apart. RWers say liberals hate America. If that's true, then why is it that the RWers are the ones doing all the hating and tearing us apart?

We're all Americans here. We'd all do well to remember that - before we are no longer the United States of America.